Jan Fazzio loves to cook and creates a crab cake dish for her husband, Larry, in the kitchen at their historic Marietta home. Crab cakes are Fazzio’s specialty, and she developed her own recipe. Staff/Kelly J. Huff

The key to great crab cakes is a good recipe. Jan Fazzio of Marietta shares her jumbo lump crab cake recipe.

“I always enjoy having crab cakes, trying different ones at restaurants. Our family has seafood at least twice a week. We just love it,” Fazzio said. She has four grown children with her husband, Larry.

Crab cakes are Fazzio’s specialty, and she developed her own recipe.

“I took a little from here and there from cookbooks and from having them at restaurants and then just tweaking it,” she said.

Jan follows in the footsteps of her mother who enjoyed cooking.

“My mom was a fabulous cook. She entertained all the time. She was always having huge parties, and I was always her assistant. It was just wonderful,” she said.

“Even after I got married, (my mother) was sending me cutouts from newspapers and magazines and recipes from friends. She was always mailing them to me so I could try new things,” said Jan, an interior designer who owns j. elle decor.

Jan’s recipe has little filler.

“I don’t like (crab cakes) so rich,” she said.

Quality ingredients are essential.

“It’s important to use lump blue crab,” said Fazzio, who often uses herbs from her backyard garden.

Crab cakes are versatile.

“(Crab cakes) can be done so many different ways,” Fazzio said. Fazzio suggests serving them as an entree, Crab Cake Benedict (over poached eggs with hollandaise sauce) or mini crab cake appetizers served with a sauce such as remoulade.

Fazzio passes along her love of cooking to her children. Her kitchen has a large island where the family cooks together.

“We just get in there and put on some music, and we’ll all be around the island or over the stove. Everyone can be together,” she said.

One of the dishes the Fazzio family might cook together is Jan’s Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes. “They’re just great and refreshing,” Jan said.

Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes

1 ½ pounds lump crabmeat

1 tablespoon finely chopped red bell pepper

1 tablespoon finely chopped green bell pepper

1 tablespoon finely chopped yellow or orange bell

pepper

1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tablespoon dried Italian seasoning or 1 tsp each

of fresh oregano and fresh basil, finely chopped

¼ cup bread crumbs (I prefer seasoned)

Salt and pepper

1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning

DIRECTIONS:

After combining the above ingredients and shaping into 8 crab cakes, sauté in canola oil until brown on both sides and heated through.

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